Zariel
A variant form of the Aramaic name Azriel meaning "help of God".
Name Census estimates that about 314 living Americans carry the first name Zariel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Zariel today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Zariel births was 2024 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Zariel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
314
~ 1 in 1,091,574 Americans
Peak year
2024
24 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,804
Tracked since 1999
Census
Zariel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 233 people with the first name Zariel, which placed it at #34,862 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#34,862
National first-name rank
People counted
233
233 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Zariel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zariel is Black at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.2%) and White (9.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Zariel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Zariel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.6% · 104
- Hispanic or Latino38.2% · 89
- White9.9% · 23
- Two or more races5.2% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Zariel
Zariel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 317 total registrations, 86 (27.1%) were male and 231 (72.9%) were female.
Zariel as a male name
- Ranked #6,804 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (13 births)
Zariel as a female name
- Ranked #9,506 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zariel on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 74 were male (32.2%) and 156 were female (67.8%).
Popularity
Zariel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Zariel from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 144 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Zariel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Zariel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Zariel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Zariels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Zariel
The name Zariel is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language, with its roots possibly tracing back to ancient Semitic cultures of the Middle East. It is thought to be a combination of two words: "zar," meaning "strange" or "foreign," and "el," which is a reference to the Semitic deity or god.
One of the earliest known references to the name Zariel can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. In the Talmud, Zariel is mentioned as the name of an angel who is said to have been responsible for overseeing the movement of celestial bodies and the cycles of the heavens.
During the Middle Ages, the name Zariel gained some popularity among Jewish communities across Europe and the Mediterranean region. It was often used as a way to honor the angel's association with the natural world and the cosmic order.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Zariel was a 12th-century Jewish philosopher and astronomer from Spain, Zariel ben Shlomo. He was renowned for his contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and his works on the movements of the planets and stars.
In the 16th century, another notable figure named Zariel emerged in the form of a Italian-Jewish poet and scholar, Zariel ben Judah. He was celebrated for his poetic works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
Fast-forwarding to the 19th century, a French-Jewish composer named Zariel Lévy gained recognition for his operas and orchestral works, which were influenced by both his Jewish heritage and the vibrant cultural scene of Paris during that era.
Another individual of note is Zariel Rubinstein, a Russian-born American violinist and conductor who lived from 1887 to 1982. He was widely acclaimed for his interpretations of the works of composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky, and he conducted many of the world's leading orchestras during his long and illustrious career.
Finally, in the 20th century, Zariel Cohen was an Israeli politician and diplomat who served as a member of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) and represented Israel in various international forums. He was also a vocal advocate for human rights and played a role in shaping Israel's foreign policy during the latter half of the 20th century.
People
Zariel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Zariel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Z
Other first names starting with Z with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Zariel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Zariel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 314 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Zariel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,091,574 US residents.
Is Zariel a common name?
We classify Zariel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 317 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Zariel most popular?
The single biggest year for Zariel was 2024, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Zariel is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Zariel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 233 people with the name Zariel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,862 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Zariel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Zariel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Zariel on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 74 were male (32.2%) and 156 were female (67.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Zariel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Zariel is Black at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (38.2%) and White (9.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Zariel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Zariel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.6% (104 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Zariel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Zariel a female name?
Yes, 72.9% of people registered as Zariel in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Zariel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Zariel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Zariel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Zariel?
Find out how many people have the name Zariel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.